Three FH Wins on Wednesday Night
Stevens 3, William Paterson 0
Senor back
Grace Ridge scored two goals and the Stevens Institute of Technology field hockey team pitched its first shutout of the season as the Ducks earned a 3-0 victory at William Paterson University Wednesday night.
After some back-and-forth in the game's first 10 minutes, Stevens took the first noticeable edge, generating a trio of corners and four shots – three on goal – that ended up resulting in a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.
A William Paterson penalty in the circle resulted in a corner and on the ensuing play, senior forward
Marguerite Chavez inserted to Ridge who slammed home her eighth goal of the season and third in the last three games. All three Ridge tallies have come via penalty corners and have been assisted by Chavez.
Less than seven minutes later, Stevens went up 2-0 thanks to the ninth goal of the year from sophomore forward
Dailyn Brook.
The lead swelled to three goals when a corner from Chavez resulted in another goal for Ridge – her ninth of the year – and 30:40.
William Paterson (9-7) was finally able to possess the ball deep in the Stevens zone after not netting a shot or penalty corner for a span of 25:03 of game time in the first period. The Ducks were able to clear the circle as time expired, taking a three-goal lead into the halftime intermission.
The Pioneers came out of the gate in the second half with four penalty corners and a pair of shots over the first 10 minutes, but the Stevens defense hung tough, quickly turning the tides and pushing the ball back into the hosts' zone.
Paterson continued to battle late, but the Stevens backline and freshman goalkeeper
Emily Stukenborg were able to keep the hosts from scoring, getting the first clean-sheet victory of the 2013 season.
With the victory, Stevens has now won its last three games and is 11-5 on the season. The Ducks have outscored opponents 13-3 over that time. Ridge had four points to lead the Ducks, and Chavez had two assists.
William Paterson finished with a 9-7 edge in corners, with the Ducks holding a slim 7-6 margin in shots (6-2 lead in shots on goal). Stukenborg was credited with two saves in 90 minutes for Stevens.
Utica 2, Hamilton 0
The Utica College field hockey netted a pair of second half goals to erase a 1-0 first half deficit as the Pioneers topped host Hamilton College, 2-1, on a rainy Wednesday night at Campus Road Field. Utica's
Louise Steele-Norton tied the game early in the second half for the Pioneers and junior classmate
Alaina Stojkovski added what proved to be the game-winner in the 54th minute to help the Pioneers improved to 12-3 overall on the year.
UC also withstood a late barrage from the Continentals, including a few different scoring opportunities in the final 90 seconds, but Utica goalie
Kells Casey stood strong in the victory. Casey finished the night with six saves.
The Pioneers, who have clinched the No. 2 seed in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament, will now return to conference action on Saturday morning when they host rival Washington & Jefferson Saturday at Gaetano (11 a.m.).
Katey Hopper opened the scoring in the 32nd minute for the Continentals, taking the ball off a defender's stick and beating Casey for her first goal of the year.
However, UC capitalized on its opportunities in the second half as Steele-Norton netted her team-best 14th goal of the season. Stojkovski added her third game-winning goal of the season and she now ranks third on the team with 21 points (eight goals, five assists). Freshman
Emily Gascon assisted on the Pioneers' second goal and she now has 12 points this season (four goals, four assists).
Hamilton outshot the Pioneers 14-13 with a 9-3 advantage in the first half.
Washington & Jefferson 1, Frostburg 0
Junior midfielder Catherine Beaudoin (Barkhamsted, Conn./North Western Regional) scored the only goal of the match midway through the first half to lead Washington & Jefferson's 1-0 non-conference field hockey victory at Frostburg State Wednesday night.
Beaudoin has registered a goal or an assist in seven of the Presidents' last nine matches. W&J (11-5) has won three consecutive games and Beaudoin has provided a hand in all five goals during the streak (three goals, two assists).
Beaudoin, who became the seventh player in school history to score 10 goals in a season, netted her goal at the 20:43 mark after her shot rang off the post and into the cage.
W&J outshot FSU (6-12) by a 16-8 margin, but the Bobcats had the final two potential game-tying shots which went wide of the goal. Sophomore Kira Bunker (Magnolia, Del./Polytech) made four saves to record her fourth career shutout. Megan Grimm turned back eight shots in the loss for Frostburg State.
Oswego 2, Nazareth 0
Host Oswego scored once in each half Wednesday in a non-conference field hockey match against Nazareth and the Lakers went on to take a 2-0 victory over the Golden Flyers on a muddy track at Laker South Athletic Field.
Ashley Collins had a goal and an assist for the Lakers. She assisted on Rachel Johnston's goal in the 28th minute of the first half autes rnd then added an insurance goal with just over five minutes remaining. Nazareth's best scoring chance came in the second half when a shot by sophomore
Cathy Stahl was knocked away by Oswego defender Jackie Lowenstein.
Oswego finished with a 12-9 advantage in shots and and 11-7 edge in penalty corners. Priscilla Paulose made three saves for the Lakers, while Nazareth's
Mary Greco also made three saves.